National 8 (Spotlight Weekly)

Culture of Commonality

Priyadarsini Govind, a top class Indian dancer, shows that Nepal and India have abundant religious and cultural commonalities

By A CORRESPONDENT

Like all Hindu tradition, the performance began with a dance dedicated to Lord Ganesh. Priyadarsini Govind, performed her first Bharatnatyam sequence praying to the Ganesh, an elephant god remembered as a god of fortuity, followed by Shiva and Parbati dance and finally the performances of all almighty Devi (goddess) and concluded with the epic love story of Radha Krishna.

Priyadarsini, one of the renowned classical dancers of India, presented a series of dances demonstrating how culture and religion binds Nepal and India together. In terms of culture and religion, the two countries have many commonalities. Whether it is from northern or southern parts, Indian culture and religion share the same synthesis of Hindu and Buddhist religions like its Nepalese counterpart.

Priyadarsini Govind : Exquisite steps

In the presence of jam-packed crowed, Priyadarsini demonstrated perfection of her action and rhythm. The balance of facial action and body, with the tune of music like Tabala and violin, were another attraction of the performance. Accompanied by artists Prithi Mahesh in vocal, Shakthivel in Mridangam and Vinod Kumar in violin, Priyadarsini depicted her talent of expressing depths of emotions.

At a time when Nepalese and Indian scholars and policy makers are finding enough time to debate on small disputes, Priyadarsini's dances showed that they have missed the shared rhythm of cultural and religious similarities that exists between the two countries.

Nepal and India share many common heritage including rituals and religious ceremony. Majority of the people from both countries have similar beliefs and faiths based on Hinduism. Although both the countries are yet to realize this reality while framing state to state relations, it is certain that at the time of crisis, the religion and culture will be first and foremost factor to safeguards their national interests.

Nepal's Hindu culture and religious way of life safeguards Indian interest and vice versa. Despite many ups and downs in the formal relations between the two countries, culture and tradition will always play an important even determining role. Nepal, which lies in the southern face of Himalayas, practices similar kind of religion as India does.

"Culturally and religiously, Nepal and India have many commonalities. The performance of Priyadarsini will help to foster our people to people relations," said Sarbendra Nath Shukla, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil aviation.

However, the deep extent to which religious and cultural ties exist between the two countries, these common factors are seldom taken into consideration in state-to-state dealings. Instead of fostering the relations on the basis of close cultural affinity, the relations almost always are affected by small irritants and disputes. Among all the South Asian countries, Nepal and India share unique kind of religious, cultural and geographical closeness, which is underscored by long and open border.

Culture and religion are not the only binding factors between the two neighbors. Modernization of political and constitutional process in India has also affected the day-to-day life in Nepal. Whether it is in judiciary, legislative or bureaucracy, India's experiences and experiments have benefited Nepal.

"Bharatanatyam shows religious and cultural similarities between the two countries and such performance will help to better understand each other's culture and religion," said Indian ambassador to Nepal Shaym Sharan.

When one sees the performance like that of Priyadarsini, it reveals how the long tradition of exchange of cultural and religious matters. Nepalese culture has borrowed many things from North to South India. Developed in the temples of Southern Indian (Tamil Nadu), Bharatanatyam, a classical dance, can be traced back over a period of 2000 years.

Presented by the B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation and Embassy of India and supported by Hotel Hyatt Regency, Priyadarsini also performed her show in Janakpur and Pokhara.